1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a method and system for customizing and distributing presentations for user sites. It more particularly relates to such a method and apparatus which can be utilized for broadcasting or otherwise transmitting to a large number of remotely located user sites customized presentations including audio, video or textual elements.
2. Background Art
Customized presentations have been created and successfully communicated to a large number of recipients. In so doing, each one of the recipients can receive an individually customized message or presentation in a highly effective and efficient manner. For example, reference may be made to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,671,772, 4,863,384, 5,099,422 and 5,550,735, which are incorporated herein by reference.
The foregoing patents are incorporated herein by reference, and disclose techniques for creating customizing or personalizing presentation media, such as video cassette tapes, computer memory devices or the like. According to the patented techniques, information is gathered concerning each one of the users to facilitate the customization. Such information could include the name, address, preferences, and many other attributes of each recipient. Thus, the customized presentation can include personalization by incorporating the name of the user in the presentation.
Once this information has been gathered, the presentation media is then compiled from a library of presentation components. In one form of the patented inventions, the customized presentation is stored on a video cassette tape, which can be mailed or otherwise delivered to the recipient who can then play back the tape to receive the customized information. For example, the user may have ordered financial planning information concerning his or her specific personal requirements. The video cassette tape could then be played back with the use of a video tape recorder, whereby the recipient is able to witness an audio and visual presentation, which may include images of textual material. The entire presentation can be selected from only those presentation components which correspond to the attributes or requirements of the recipient. The customization can also include personalization, such as by employing the name of the user in the presentation itself or showing graphics.
The patented techniques also contemplate the delivery of the customized presentations via cable television or computer networks, such as the Internet. In this manner, the customized presentations are compiled at a centralized location, and then are able to be delivered directly to remotely located user sites equipped with devices such as cable television receivers or personal computers. The manner of delivery is via broadcast transmission over a transmission network, such as a cable television network, the Internet or other computer networks, broadcast television, or a satellite system.
However, while such techniques may be successfully employed for many applications, there can be significant and unwanted bandwidth problems where a large number of presentation components and user sites are involved. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, assume a producer desires to deliver 100 uniquely different customized individual presentations each being 10 minutes in length to 100 different remotely located user sites. In accordance with the patented methods of mass creation of unique presentations 1 through 100 indicated in FIG. 2, such presentations can be transmitted individually on demand.
This method can be made to perform satisfactorily for some applications, but it presents challenges for distribution in terms of the bandwidth required to transmit the presentations. For example, as indicated in FIG. 3, if all viewers wish to see their unique presentations at the same time, there must be sufficient transmission channels for all 100 presentations at one time. Thus, there must be a minimum of 100 channels. This requires an unduly large bandwidth requirement for some applications, both in terms of transmission bandwidth and server requirements.
If viewers are free to view their own presentation at any time as shown in FIG. 4, there is still the requirement to support the worst case of at least 100 separate channels to permit 100 simultaneous transmissions of 100 different presentations to 100 different user sites (FIG. 3). If there are not a sufficient number of channels for this worse case situation, then all users may not receive their desired transmissions. In this regard, if there are a smaller number of channels as compared to the number of users, viewers making requests in excess of the network capacity will be informed that their request cannot be serviced until a later time, thereby receiving a "busy signal." In the situation where a relatively large number of presentations and user sites are involved, the exceeding of the network capacity may well be highly undesirable and unwanted for some applications.
As indicated in FIG. 5, another approach may be to transmit all 100 presentations 1 through 100 within a single transmission channel to 100 different user sites. However, such an approach would require 100 different presentations times 10 minute intervals each for a total of 1,000 minutes of transmission time. Thus, such an approach may well be unduly burdensome for the transmission network.
Thus, it would be highly desirable to enable a large number of different customized presentations to be created and transmitted over networks to remotely located user sites, where the user can retrieve his or her own individualized presentation on demand, without unduly burdensome network bandwidth requirements or presentation server requirements. Also, such an arrangement should provide for conveniently and efficiently updating or otherwise modifying periodically the customized presentations and distributing them efficiently and effectively to a large variety of user sites at remote locations.